Covering of parts



Feb. 14, 1967 5. GRINYER COVERING OF PARTS Filed Feb. 4, 1965 3 /A//// k a m lxl/llllllllv I I I I I a Z3 QM United States Patent 3,303,963 COVERING 0F PARTS Edward George Grinyer, Pinner, England, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Feb. 4, 1965, Ser. No. 430,446 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 26, 1964, 8,044/ 64 Claims. (Cl. 220-63) This invention relates to the covering of parts with a layer of material for example flexible resilient material, -and although the invention has broad application it is specifically concerned with the covering of a suction cleaner shell with a sleeve of material, for example polyvinyl chloride.

According to one aspect of the present invention a method of covering a part with a layer of flexible resilient material comprises securing longitudinal retaining members of U-section to spaced portions of a piece of the material, applying the piece of the material to the part, tensioning the piece of material by drawing the retaining members apart, and securing the retaining members to the part. Where the part is of relatively thin sheet it is conveniently arranged that opposite edges of the piece of resilient material are secured one to the inside surface of one arm of each U-shaped retaining member and the resilient material is tensioned by drawing the retaining members over the ends of the thin sheet, sothat these ends also extend into the U-section retaining members.

According to another aspect of the present invention a method of covering an annular body with a layer of sheet material comprise-s making a sleeve of the sheet material and securing the sleeve around the body under longitudinal tension by means of spaced annular retaining members. The tensioning may be carried out by drawing the retaining members apart by stretching the material. The sleeve may be formed by wrapping a flat piece of the material and the retaining members may be secured to the material while in a straight condition and, before the wrapping step, thus the retaining members are conveniently formed by extrusion. Alternatively the retaining members may be formed as annular moldings. Where the sheet material and the retaining members are each formed of a thermoplastic material they are conveniently secured together by welding.

According to alternative arrangements the sleeve may In this case the arms of the U of each retaining member are preferably spaced apart by a dimension approximately equal to the thickness of the sheet material plus the thickness of the said portions of the annular body.

According to a further aspect of the present invention a canister type suction" cleaner includes a longitudinal body section. within which is mounted a motor-fan unit, the body section including an annular shell which is surrounded by a sleeve of decorative flexible material which is retained thereon in a longitudinally tensioned condition by retaining members at or adjacent each end of the sleeve. The retaining members conveniently substantially surround the ends of the sleeve which may be formed by extrusion or by wrapping a flat piece of the flexible material and securing together abutting edges thereof, in which case the retaining members may be secured to or formed integrally with the material prior to the wrapping 3,303,963- Patented Feb. 14, 1967 operation. Alternatively they may be formed as moldings and secured to the sleeve.

The retaining members are preferably of U-section the inner arms of which are conveniently longer than the outer arms so that the inner arms form substantially air tight seals for bulkheads at the ends of the shell.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways but one specific embodiment will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational View partly in section of a suction cleaner which has secured to it a sleeve of decorative polyvinyl chloride material;

FIGURE 2 shows the sleeve of decorative polyvinyl chloride material having a retaining member secured to each end of it ready for assembly onto a suction cleaner shell;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of one end of the cleaner shell showing the manner in which the retaining members are employed to tension the sleeve of polyvinyl chloride and also the manner in which the retaining members provide a seal and support for other parts of the cleaner; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view of one end of the sleeve showing the manner in which the retaining members secure the sleeve to the shell, and also the manner in which the retaining member provides a decorative effect.

FIGURE 1 shows a conventional canister cleaner which has a longitudinally extending body 10 substantially closed by end caps 11 and 12 into which the end 13 on a partially shown flexible hose can be inserted and latched either for suction cleaning or for blowing. For this purpose a motor-fan-unit, not shown, is mounted within the body 10. Also mounted within the body 10 is a cloth filter bag 14 secured by stitching and if necessary riveting or other means to a supporting ring 15 which comp-rises a rubber molding held between a bulkhead 16 and an inner liner 17 of the end cap 12. Additionally a paper filter bag 18, which can be of the disposable type, is retained within the cloth bag 14 by having its margin turned outwards and securely held between the end of the ring 15 and the liner 17. The bulkhead 16 is secured to the inner wall of a generally cylindrically metallic shell 19 as shown in FIGURE 3.

The end cap 12, which will be referred to as the suction end cap, is pivoted to the shell 19 on its under side by a hinged connection 20 and is secured by a latch 21 on the upper side so that in order to insert or remove the filter bags the latch 21 is unlocked and the end cap 12 pivoted downwards to provide ready access to the interior of the shell 19.

The shell 19 is covered with a sleeve 23 of flexible re silient polyvinyl chloride formed with a decorative finish which makes it unnecessary to paint or otherwise decorate the metal shell. In accordance with the present invention the sleeve 23 is formed by wrapping a flat rectangular piece of material and securing overlapping longitudinal edges thereof by a high frequency sea-m weld 24 as shown in FIGURE 2. Prior to this Wrapping step the ends of the piece of material of the sleeve 23 are each inserted into a generally U-shaped polyvinyl chloride extrusion which forms a retaining member 25. The ends of the sleeve 23 are also welded by high frequency welding to the short outer arms 26 of the retaining members as shown in FIGURE 4. Accordingly, in practice, the length of the retaining members 25 is slightly less than the width of the piece of the polyvinyl chloride material before it is wrapped in order to allow for the overlapping seam weld 24. The abutting ends 27 of the retaining members 25 are not secured together since these, when in the assembled condition on the shell 19, are hidden by one of a pair of skids 30 which are secured to the shell to support it.

As shown in FIGURE 4 the inner arm 32 of each U- shaped retaining member is considerably longer than the outer arm 26 and the two arms 26 and 32 are spaced apart by a base portion 33 to a sufiicient extent to allow the shell 19 and the sleeve 23 to be received as a close fit within the retaining members. The distance between the bights 33 of the -U-shaped retaining members 25 including the attached sleeve 23, when in unstretched condition as shown in FIGURE 2, is slightly less than the length of the metal shell 19 so that when assembled on the latter the flexible material of the sleeve 33 and retaining members 25 will be tensioned longitudinally of the shell 19. Thus after the sleeve has been formed to the shape of FIGURE 2 it is drawn over the tubular shell 19 and the U-shaped retaining members at each end are drawn over the ends of the shell 19 to the FIGURE 4- position to retain the sleeve 23 in a longitudinally tensioned condition, no other securing means being required.

As shown in FIGURE 3 the bulkhead 16 is secured by rivets 35 extending through the inner arm 32 of the retaining member at that end and, in the case of the rivet 35 shown in FIGURE 3, an upstanding lug 36 is also retained to provide a catch for the toggle latch 21. The resilience of the polyvinyl chloride mate-rial from which the U-shaped retaining members 25 are formed insures that a satisfactory seal is obtained between the bulkhead 16 and the inner surface of the longer arm 32 of the retaining member, so that suction pressure within the shell 19 is sealed with respect to the outer or right hand surface of the bulkhead 16 inFIGURE 3.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the suction end cap 12 is provided with a stepped surface 38 which, in the closed position, is received within the inner longer arm 32 of the retaining member with a suitable clearance 39. The suction end cap engages the outer surface of the base portion 33 of the retaining member which is sufficiently resilient to provide :a cushioning effect and avoids any metal to metal contact.

As shown in FIGURE 4 each retaining member 25 during its extrusion is provided with a decorative metal aluminum layer 40 covered by a thin transparent film 41 to provide an annular decorative break between the end of the shell 19 and the end caps 11 and 12.

The invention provides an extremely simple method of providing an annular suction cleaner shell with a decorative plastic layer which can be retained in a tensioned condition without any recourse to glues, screws or rivets. The polyvinyl chloride extrusion which forms the longitudinal retaining members 25 can be cheaply produced and these retaining members have secondary functions in the sealing against the end bulkheads such as the bulkhead 16 and in providing a resilient support for the end caps in the closed position.

The end cap 11 at the other end of the cleaner is similarly supported by the retaining member at that end, but

. Moreover the sleeve may be formed as an extrusion to which the retaining members ,are secured.

Alternatively the sleeve may be formed by wrapping a piece of material having the retaining members formed integrally therewith by extrusion or by folding over thickened edges thereof to form U-shaped edges. In these instances it would be necessary to remove a short portion of the U-section in order to permit an overlap to form the seam weld 24.

Alternatively abutting edges of the wrapped material may be joined by a heat sealing strip.

While I have shown and describedseveral embodiments I of my invention, it is to be understood that those embodiments are to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the particular structure shown and described but to include all equivalent variations except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a canister type suction cleaner, a body including an elongated annular shell, a sleeve of flexible material stretched over and surrounding said shell, a retaining member at opposite ends of said sleeve forming a part thereof for attaching the latter to the opposite ends of said shell, said sleeve being of less length than said shell when said .sleeve 'is in unstretched condition separated from said shell, whereby said retaining members when attached to the opposite ends of said shell retain said sleeve on said shell in longitudinally tensioned condition and said tensioned sleeve exerts a force on said retaining members to assist in maintaining the latter attached to the opposite ends of said 'shell.

2. In a canister type suction cleaner as described in claim 1, and said retaining members of generally U-shape with one arm of the U secured to said sleeve, and the opposite ends of said shell extending into the U-shaped retaining members.

3. In a canister type suction cleaner as described in claim 1, and a bulkhead mounted within said shell adjacent one end thereof, said retaining members of generally U-shape with the opposite ends of said shell extending into the bight of said U-shaped retaining members, and an arm of one of said U-shaped retaining members extending within said shell between the latter and said bulkhead.

4. In a canister type suction cleaner as described in claim 1, and said sleeve and retaining members formed 7 of a thermoplastic material and secured together by a in this case the end cap is secured by suitable screws, I

since it does not need to be readily releasable.

While in the preferred embodiment described and shown the sleeve 23 has been formed by wrapping, after the retaining members have been welded thereto, other arrangements are possible and fall within the scope of the inhigh frequency weld.

5. In a canister type suction cleaner as described in claim 1, said retaining members of generally U-shape, the bight portion of one of said U-shaped retaining members covering an open end of said shell, and a cover for said open end of said shell engaging said bight portion of said one U-shaped retaining member to form an air seal therebetween.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,964,777 12/1960 Allen et a1. 15-327 3,002,215 10/ 1961 MacFarland 15-327 G. T. HALL, Assistant Examiner.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A CANISTER TYPE SUCTION CLEANER, A BODY INCLUDING AN ELONGATED ANNULAR SHELL, A SLEEVE OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL STRETCHED OVER AND SURROUNDING SAID SHELL, A RETAINING MEMBER AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID SLEEVE FORMING A PART THEREOF FOR ATTACHING THE LATTER TO THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID SHELL, SAID SLEEVE BEING OF LESS LENGTH THAN SAID SHELL WHEN SAID SLEEVE IS IN UNSTRETCHED CONDITION SEPARATED FROM SAID SHELL, WHEREBY SAID RETAINING MEMBERS WHEN ATTACHED TO THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID SHELL RETAIN SAID SLEEVE ON SAID SHELL IN LONGITUDINALLY TENSIONED CONDITION AND SAID TENSIONED SLEEVE EXERTS A FORCE ON SAID RETAINING MEMBERS TO ASSIST IN MAINTAINING THE LATTER ATTACHED TO THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID SHELL. 